Bruce Babbitt took the Real West to Washington: A High Country News interview
Growth & Sustainability
Posted inJanuary 15, 2001: Plains sense
Bush administration faces a reborn Interior
Now that the former attorney general of Colorado, Gale Norton, has been nominated as secretary of Interior (see story page 3), the cast of main characters is complete, and the four-year run of what is certain to be an interesting play can begin. The details of the script will be written on the fly, but […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
From cumbersome to collaborative
The National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the federal government to assess the environmental impacts of its actions, has become synonymous with contentious public hearings and cumbersome environmental impact statements. But it shouldn’t be, argues Daniel Kemmis, director of the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Missoula, Mont. “(NEPA) represents a national recognition […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
GAO blasts land exchanges
A recent audit report by the General Accounting Office found that land exchanges by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are rarely in the public’s best interest. In fact, the report says that both agencies often agree to exchanges that undervalue public lands and overvalue private holdings. The report, BLM and the Forest […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Neighbors oppose land trade
COLORADO A 640-acre piece of high-elevation forest and meadowland is the topic of a heated debate in central Colorado. The future of the Little Cochetopa Creek School Section near Salida is now in the hands of the State Land Board, and Chaffee County residents worry the board will choose private development over public domain. A […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Out of the darkness
A Western Colorado community meets a coal boom halfway
Posted inMay 22, 2000: Save Our Sagebrush
Lawmaker accepts Babbitt’s challenge
COLORADO Western Colorado’s Black Ridge Canyon has the largest array of sandstone arches outside of Utah, second only to Arches National Park. What it lacks is over-arching protection. That may soon change. Republican Rep. Scott McInnis, from nearby Grand Junction, is proposing to make the 130,000-acre Black Ridge Canyon a national conservation area, with 72,000 […]
Posted inMay 22, 2000: Save Our Sagebrush
Stirrings in the San Rafael Swell
A recreation explosion forces some action in Utah’s deadlocked wilderness debate
Posted inMay 22, 2000: Save Our Sagebrush
Another compromise plan falls flat
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article,”Stirrings in the San Rafael Swell.” In Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt’s State of the State address in January, the two-term Republican announced what he called an “unprecedented opportunity.” The opportunity was a huge land swap of state and […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Baca Ranch buy-out has strings attached
Bill could put millions of acres of public land on the auction block
Posted inApril 24, 2000: At your service: Unions help some Western workers serve themselves
Locked out of the public lands
Rich folks are blocking the public domain, say hunters and ORV riders
Posted inApril 24, 2000: At your service: Unions help some Western workers serve themselves
Tug-of-war continues over trust lands
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Wildcat subdivisions fuel fight over sprawl.” In the summer of 1998, Arizona Republican Gov. Jane Hull pulled together 15 conservationists, business leaders and state legislators and formed the Growing Smarter Commission. Their task would be to ward […]
Posted inMarch 27, 2000: The last wild river
Resource Advisory Councils (RACs)
The Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management is seeking nominations for positions on its Resource Advisory Councils (RACs) throughout the state. Members serve for three years and will have a say in how Colorado public lands are managed. Nominations are due by April 20. For information and nomination forms, contact the BLM Colorado […]
Posted inMarch 13, 2000: Libby's dark secret
Round two for Steens Mountain development
OREGON — In southeastern Oregon, a couple has come up with a new approach for developing the 160 acres they own on Steens Mountain, the massif that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is eyeing for federal protection as a national monument (HCN, 11/22/99: Go tell it on the mountain). This time, John and Cindy Witzel, who […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
BLM signs snatched
UTAH San Juan County officials recently removed federal “road closed” signs on three dirt roads they claim in the Grand Gulch area of southeastern Utah. The action could provoke a lawsuit to test who owns these roads – San Juan County or the Bureau of Land Management (HCN, 10/28/96: Utah counties bulldoze the BLM, Park […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Buy land now, says Udall
The state of Colorado is tightening its belt on land purchases, and Democratic Rep. Mark Udall wants someone to account for it. The state’s Department of Natural Resources has been discussing a moratorium on buying properties for wildlife habitat, says Greg Walcher, the department’s executive director. Budget concerns drove the decision. “We decided we would […]
Posted inNovember 22, 1999: Go tell it on the mountain
Risks multiply for land managers
Beatings, bombings, death threats and other acts of violence against Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management employees are on the rise. According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility), agency workers or buildings were attacked or threatened nearly 100 times in 1998 alone. One Forest […]
Posted inNovember 22, 1999: Go tell it on the mountain
The secretary’s must-do list for Western lands
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s Western road tour didn’t finish at Steens Mountain; in fact, no one seems quite sure where it will end. In addition to the Arizona Strip and the Missouri River Breaks, several other Bureau of Land Management sites could gain greater […]
Posted inNovember 22, 1999: Go tell it on the mountain
Go tell it on the mountain
FRENCHGLEN, Ore. – Atop 9,600-foot Steens Mountain, a brisk northwest wind races up the spectacular U-shaped canyon of Little Blitzen Creek at dawn. Howling over the top of golden aspen trees in the canyon below, the wind rips up-canyon to a steep alpine bowl at the top of the draw, and – poof! – like […]
Posted inNovember 22, 1999: Go tell it on the mountain
‘Environmentalists will win’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Andy Kerr is a veteran Oregon environmentalist who represents The Wilderness Society on the Steens issue. He is pushing for an end to livestock grazing on Steens Mountain. “The (Southeast Oregon Resource Advisory Council) is the wrong entity to cut a deal. It has […]